Friday, March 23, 2012

How to Make a Hotbed for Winter Greens

One very easy method of winter gardening is to create a simple hotbed and grow
winter-hardy greens in it. To do so, simply dig a pit about a foot and a half
deep; fill it with about 12″ of green manure or any green material, even weeds;
top with about 4″ of soil or compost, leaving the top slightly below ground
level; and cover the indentation with glass or any solar box. The hotbed doesn’t need to be big
to produce greens you can eat all winter.

Upcoming Classes and Events

Mapleton Ready is providing a free winter gardening class by Caleb Warnock, author of Backyard Winter Gardening. It will cover among other things: hot beds, the best winter varieties to grow, and hoop houses.

How to Become a Member

If you would like to become a member of the Utah Seed Exchange you will need to:

1. Commit to learning and actively saving seeds, at least one new variety a year. You must test your seeds for purity by growing a few and matching them to the parent plant before you share them with anyone.

2. Become familiar with the concepts of seed saving. Please catch up with the information and classes that have been taught. They are listed under the 'Pages' section on the right. Go through the pages and read and watch the information.

3. You will need to own and reference 'Seed to Seed' by Suzanne Ashworth (amazon.com) and it is recommended that you own and read 'The Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency used by the Mormon Pioneer' by Caleb Warnock which is a great book on seed saving in Utah.

When you have done these things, email me your request for membership at utahseedexchange@gmail.com and let me know that you have completed the requirements.